When I Get Older: Why I'm Counting on a Multimodal System

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This is a big conversation we all need to have as the Baby Boomers start creeping up towards 80 years of age: what will it mean when the generation for whom the suburbs were built gets too old to drive themselves safely? In many cases they are still capable of caring for themselves at home, but driving becomes increasingly hazardous.

I expect to be part of the rising tide of people who choose and use a variety of transportation modes other than driving long before they “have to” give up driving, like the seniors who are rediscovering or just now taking up bicycling.

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I expect riding my bike to keep me younger longer than my folks (who were pretty robust physically well into their 80s as it was). When I get a bit wobbly for two wheels I’ll switch to three. If the day comes when I have to stop riding, transit will still be there for me.

There's a guy I know from the neighborhood who is quite fit and in good health, but who gave up driving after almost getting into a bad accident on the freeway. He says there's nowhere he can't go with a bicycle and a bus pass, even in Santa Clara County. He's one of my bike commuting inspirations!

On the other hand, the Panda once got into an accident IN A PARKING LOT with a 90-year old guy who was legally and in every other way blind!!! He was stopped in the aisle for a long time while trying to see whether a parking space was free!

My parents live in a retirement community -- like a whole town where you have to be AARP age to own a house -- in Orange County, and although almost everyone there is licensed to drive the vast majority of them start driving nothing but golf carts as they get super old. It's kind of a cool place, but you have to be a certain type of plan-ahead person to want to live there.